Fastening means for yarn packages



Oct. 25, 1955 A. s. POLE 2,721,468

FASTENING MEANS FOR YARN PACKAGES Filed Aug. 50, 1952 II' x BQQM 5 Samuel Pegg & Son Limited, Leicester, 'England, a

British company Application August 30, 1952, Serial No. 307,225

Claims priority,application Great Britain September 10, 1951 6 Claims. (Cl. 68-198) The present invention is concerned with the dyeing or like treatment, e. g. bleaching of packages of yarn or thread in so-called package-dyeing machines, or the subsequent drying of the. treatedpackages. These latter are usually mounted on holders which are placed in the dyeing or drying machine and each have an upstanding spindle on which the packages to.be treated'are threaded and retained by clip means during the treatment (hereinafter called, generically, the dyeing).

A known form of clip means for thus retaining the packages against movement relatively to the spindles under the impulsion of the dyeing liquor comprises a hinged catch which fits into a groove on the spindle concerned. It has, however, been the experience that a degree of attention is required to fasten such clips down when the packages are first mounted on their spindles, and that they are troublesome to undo, having regard to the fact that they become. very hot during the dyeing and having to be forcibly gripped and pressed down for release.

It is an object of this invention to furnish a fastening means which is efiicient in operation and does not suffer from these drawbacks. Moreover, a fastening as hereinafter disclosed has the additional attribute that it is self-adjusting on its spindle to compensate for the shrinkage of the yarn or thread as a result of the dyeing.

Hence the fastening means of this invention comprises a cover formed for slidable disposal on and around the spindle so as to bear on the upper end of a package threaded on the spindle, and a locking member rockably carried by said cover and adapted wedgingly to engage the spindle in response to upward pressure on the cover.

Advantageously the locking member is in the form of a ring which, in use, is disposed around the packagecarrying spindle in the manner of a collar, and which has its central opening so dimensioned vis-a-vis the outer diameter of the spindle so as to be capable of wedging engagement with the latter when there is an upthrust on the cover.

Conveniently the cover is in the form of a circular plate and has secured thereto a surmounting cylindrical cap in which the locking ring is rockably mounted at an angle to the horizontal.

Such a ring may be a tolerably close fit in the cap and have at one side a radial projection fulcrumed in an opening in the peripheral wall of the cap and at the opposite side a releasing lever or finger movable in a vertical slot in this wall.

One form of the invention is illustrated by.v way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view, partly in vertical section, of the upper part of a package-dyeing machine spindle, of the kind referred to above, having a yarn package mounted thereon and carrying a fastening means according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same assembly, as seen in the direction of the arrows IIII in Figure 1.

United States Patent Patented Oct. 25, 1955 As will be understood the illustration is of one of a series of upstanding spindles, e. g. of different lengths, which would be used in the machine and that, although one yarn package only is seen, it is quite likely that a plurality of superposed packages would be used, in which event the Package shown would be the top one.

' Hence the spindle has a tubular body 1 of hollow form and provided with a series of outlet openings 2 which serve to allow the forced flow of dyeing liquor from an outside source to the interior of the wound package 3 and so through the body of the latter for dyeing the same. This arrangement is well-known in the art and is therefore not here illustrated.

' The package 3 is of cylindrical form with an internal bore 4 maintained by a coiled spring 5 covered externally by a stocking or envelope 6 of open-weave material.

To fasten the package 3 down around the spindle body 1 and form an upper end closure for the bore in this package, an improved fastening means according to the present invention is employed. This means, which will now be described, is self-adjusting so that it will follow the downward movement of the upper end of the package/when the latter shrinks, as normally occurs during dyeing, and yet remain effective.

The fastening means illustrated comprises a cover plate 7, having a central opening 8 and a locating boss '9, which is slid over an upper reduced stem 10 of the spindle so that its flat underface bears on the top surface of the yarn package 3 to form a light compression element. Surmounting plate 7 is a cylindrical housing or cap 11 which likewise has a central opening 12 for the passage of the spindle portion 10.

The locking member consists of a ring 13 which is dimensioned for loose mounting around the spindle portion 10. Ring 13 is disposed in housing 11 so as to be capable of a rocking movement in the latter relative to spindle portion 10. It has a short projection 14 from one side and, diametrically opposite this, an outwardly-extending lever or releasing finger 15. The projection 14 is received in a retaining and fulcrum-forming opening 16 at the upper end of the peripheral wall 17 of housing 11, whilst finger 15 is movable in an elongated slot 18 at the opposite side of wall 17.

When the dyeing operation is to commence, the package or packages is or are threaded on the spindle 1, 10 the fastening assembly then slipped on to this spindle from above and pushed down by hand on the package 3 so as to compress the same axially. Upon release the package will tend to force the compression plate 7 and fastening assembly upwards, so causing the locking ring 13 to wedgingly engage the spindle portion 10 and thus secure the fastening in position. As the dyeing operation proceeds the package tends to shrink and the fastening will automatically adjust itself to the resultant decrease in length of the package, for this purpose dropping, under its own weight, to follow the descent of the top of the package. Such descent is not impeded by the locking ring 13, but only any tendency of the fastening to move in the upward direction under the effect of, say, the pressure of the dyeing liquor.

At the end of the dyeing operation, and when it is desired to remove the package or packages from the spindle, all that is required to unlock the fastening is to give an upward flick to the locking ring by slight upward pressure on the finger of the latter. This requires no appreciable gripping of the finger so that no discomfort is experienced by the operator.

In the case of a drying operation, the package(s) on their holders are placed in the drier and traversed from the interior by hot air instead of a heating liquid, but the function of the fastening remains the same.

It will also be understood that changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the parts of the fastening particularly described and illustrated, within the scope of the claims hereto, and that it can be used with packages and supports therefor of different forms from those specifically described.

What I claim then is:

1. Self-adjusting means for fastening a package of yarn or thread on a vertically extending spindle, comprising an apertured cover plate for slidable disposal on and around the spindle thereby to bear upon a package on this spindle, a cylindrical housing secured to the cover plate and surmounting the aperture therein, and a locking ring disposed within said housing at an angle to the horizontal and pivotally mounted in a vertical wall of this housing, the aperture in the ring being in coaxial alignment with the aperture in the cover plate, said ring being adapted for wedging engagement with said spindle in response to an upthrust on the cover plate.

2. Self-adjusting means for fastening a package of yarn or thread on a vertically extending spindle, comprising an apertured cover plate for slidable disposal on and around the spindle thereby to bear upon a package on this spindle, a cylindrical housing secured to the cover plate and surmounting the aperture therein, and a locking ring disposed within said housing at an angle to the horizontal and being rockable to embrace said spindle in one direction of rocking and to disengage therefrom in the other direction, the aperture in the ring being coaxially aligned with the aperture in the cover plate, said ring having at one side a radial projection fulcrumed in an opening in the peripheral wall of said housing and, at the opposite side, a releasing finger movable in a vertical slot in said wall.

3. Means for fastening a package of yarn or thread on a spindle, comprising an apertured cover plate, a cap mounted on said plate and forming therewith a hollow housing apertured for movement along said spindle to a position wherein the plate is adapted to bear on the upper end of a package disposed around this spindle, and an annular locking member coaxially disposed with respect to the aperture in said cover plate rockably mounted within and connected to said housing and 4 adapted to surround said spindle for following said cover plate and cap in their downward movement by sliding along the spindle, but rocking about its connection to the housing thereby engaging the spindle to oppose upward movement of the cover plate when an upthrust is exerted on the latter;

4. Means for fastening a package of yarn or thread on a spindle, comprising an apertured cover plate to be applied on the upper end of a package disposed on said spindle, an annular locking member having an aperture in coaxial alignment with the aperture in the cover plate articulated at one side to a part on this cover plate for pivoting movement on and around the spindle to grip the spindle in one direction of relative movement and oppose movement of the cover plate along said spindle, but to move about the articulation to disengage from the spindle in the opposite direction of relative movement and permit sliding of the plate along the spindle.

5. Means for fastening a package of yarn or thread on a spindle comprising a cover having an opening therein adapted to be received on the spindle to bear upon a package disposed on the spindle, a locking member having an opening therein coaxially aligned with the opening in said cover, means rockably mounting the locking mem her on the cover, said locking member adapted to surround the spindle and to rock to wedgingly engage the spindle in response to upward pressure on the cover.

6. Means for fastening a package on a spindle comprising an apertured cover for receiving the spindle so that the cover may slide on the spindle thereby to bear on a package disposed on the spindle, a locking ring on the cover adapted to surround the spindle, means rockably mounting said locking ring on an upstanding part on said cover, the opening of the ring being dimensioned for free sliding along the spindle when the cover descends and for rocking movement to wedgingly engage the spindle when an upthrust is exerted on the cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,903,585 Annicq Apr. 11, 1933 

